Five BHSU students nominated to compete at national theatre festival

Debra Iverson, Mary McGillivray, Tessa Krog, Katie Severns, and Ian Vytlacil have been nominated for American College Theater Festival awards. They are participating in the festival in January.

Five Black Hills State University students have been nominated to participate in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival national competition in January.

Debra Iverson, Mary McGillivray, and Katie Severns were nominated for their work in the BHSU production of Lucky Duck. Iverson, junior speech communication and art major from Bowman, N.D., was nominated to participate in the Barbizon National Design Competition for costume design. Her design work, including color renderings of all her costumes, will be presented at the festival. McGillivray, junior vocal music major from Sheridan, Wyo., and Severns, senior vocal music and speech communication major from Rapid City, were nominated for their acting performances.

Lucky Duck was co-directed by renowned Broadway playwright Bill Russell, a Lawrence County native. Russell co-wrote Lucky Duck and has won several awards for his lyrics and work on other musicals.

Ian Vytlacil, senior mass communications major from Box Elder, and Tessa Krog, sophomore English major from Spearfish, were both nominated for their performances in It’s a Wonderful Life.

The four nominated actors from both shows will perform their scenes with fellow BHSU students Andrew Rexroad, Philip Braun, and Jessica Juhrend for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions.

The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival is a week-long festival that includes a variety of workshops and seminars covering all aspects of theatre, auditions for summer stock theatres, and networking with other schools and students. BHSU is sending a total of 14 theatre students to attend the conference. Last year, more than 1,300 productions were entered in the festival, which involved over 200,000 students nationwide.

For more information, contact Bert Juhrend, BHSU faculty member and theatre director, at 642-6268 or BertJuhrend@BHSU.edu.

Black Hills State University students Debra Iverson, Mary McGillivray, Tessa Krog, Katie Severns, and Ian Vytlacil will participate in the national Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. The students were nominated for the competition for their work in the BHSU Theatre productions of Lucky Duck and It’s a Wonderful Life.

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